Hostile Design
Week 8
Harris, Dianne. “The Lens of Race: Whiteness and Architectural Photography at Case Study House #22.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 83, no. 3 (September 1, 2024): 358–73.
When camera reflects Bias
Summary Dianne Harris’s article, The Lens of Race: Whiteness and Architectural Photography at Case Study House #22, critically examines Julius Shulman’s iconic 1960 photograph of the Stahl House. Harris argues that while the image is celebrated for epitomizing...
What Equals Beauty?
Reading Summary/Takeaway: This reading uses the Case Study house #22 to describe the ways that architecture, photography, and racial issues are connected. The house displays many examples of how racial bias existed and was perpetuated by the media. Through the...
Representation in Architecture
Summary This week’s reading, The Lens of Race by Dianne Harris, critically analyzes Julius Shulman’s 1960 photograph of Case Study House 22 and explores how architectural photography can uphold racial and social hierarchies. Harris argues that while this image is...
The Lens of Race
This article written by Dianne Harris from the University of Washington explores the constructs of race in Architecture by critically exploring the photographic work of Julius Shulman- particularly the photos done of Case Study House. Harris sets up the framework...
Modernization as a White and Wealthy Life
A focus of this article is the photography of Case Study House #22 that reinforces whiteness as the norm of the modernist architectural movement. Take figure 1 for example, the author discusses how the photograph showing two neatly dressed white women sitting in a...
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Dianne Harris in The Lens of Race: Whiteness and Architectural Photography at Case Study House #22, articulates the impact of architectural photography on culture, race, and gender roles, both in the 60s when the photos were taken and even to present day. Much like...
Photographic Privilege
Summary This article by Dianne Harris offers a critical racial analysis of one of the most famous architectural photographs of the 20th century. Rather than viewing Julius Shulman's iconic 1960 image of Case Study House #22 as simply documenting a modernist house,...
The Avoidance of Black Culture in Architecture
Architecture has long been run by white males. Although not clear right away, historical architecture is stripped of any signs of culture other than white culture. The building forms, being bare and white, are in stark contrast to the rich culture of black people,...
Architectural Photography and the White American Dream
Harris' article plainly states at the forefront that her intent is not to critique the architecture of the buildings in these photos, nor the quality of Julius Shulman's architectural photography. Rather, the author seeks to call out how these photos are tools that...
Interior Architecture Photography
In the article, “The Lens of Race: Whiteness and Architectural Photography at Case Study House #22.” Dianne Harris argues that the iconic architectural photography functions as a visual reinforcement of the upper-middle-class, white identity, ignoring the racial...
A (White) Woman’s Place
Julius Shulman’s photograph of Case Study #22 including two white women reinforces white supremacy, class, and racial divides. In viewing architectural photography, the photograph and the building can become conflated. Though architectural photography is...
The View from the Top: Whiteness and Visual Power in Domestic Architecture
Reading Summary / Takeaway In her article, Dianne Harris explores how Julius Shulman’s famous 1960 photograph of Case Study House #22 is more than just a documentation of modern architecture. She argues that the image reinforces ideas of whiteness, privilege, and...